EUR/USD continues to rise further above, as Germany’s unemployment change figure was a big positive surprise once again – a drop of 55K. much better than a drop of 23K that was expected.
The number of unemployed people in Germany is decreasing for many months. Last month, a big, similar drop of 54K (revised from 52K) was recorded, showing everybody that Germany’s economy continues to shine. In the past year, only one month saw a minor rise.
The unemployment rate in the whole Euro-zone stands at 9.9%, and is hardly moving. Germany’s labor market is especially outstanding in comparison with other Euro-zone countries such as Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy.
It seems that the positive number was leaked – the break above 1.4160 began more than an hour before the official release.
EUR/USD, that already managed to cross the 1.4160 resistance line before the publication, now trades at 1.4187. The next important resistance line is at 1.4282. 1.4160 now turns into support, followed by 1.4030 which also had a role in recent days.
For more technical levels, see the EUR/USD forecast.
Will Germany continue carrying the whole Euro-zone and the Euro forward? It seems that inflation in Germany drives the ECB to raise the rates, even if other countries will suffer from this rate hike. As we see now, Germany’s labor market continues to heat as well, and this also pushes the Euro higher.
Talks about raising the rates have been pushing the Euro higher in recent weeks, while bad, debt related news pushed the common currency lower. Portugal has been the main “supplier†of bad news, especially after its government collapsed.
